The Indian
Minister of External Affairs, Salman Khurshid, said he was disappointed that
his PM, Manmohan Singh could not come and be the first HOG to visit Jaffna, and
that privilege was seized by David Cameron the Prime Minister of Britain! In
retrospect it would have made more sense if Manmohan was able to go there as he
would be able to show the people of Tamil Nadu that India has helped the region
immensely with both building 50,000 homes and the reconstruction of the
Northern Railway Line. He could have even won a concession from MR!
I believe that would
have placated the Tamil Nadu population, and now I believe the last laugh is
with Cameron, and the Tamil Nadu politicians will realize they made a big
mistake. In fact going to Colombo and making statements in support of Tamils,
would have been more effective than boycotting, as David Cameron so adroitly
showed. Sri Lanka were in sixes and sevens not knowing what had hit them with
this character baying for blood on a fleeting visit from London!
India by this
diplomatic debacle has opened the doors further to China to take over all major
infrastructure projects in the Island. It is going to be very difficult to claw
this back in future.
In reality India
SHOULD be Sri Lanka’s best friend. Why ever not? We have so much culturally and
economically in common, and so much more to exploit owing to India’s size and
also the huge potential market for our goods.
Sri Lanka has
not, but should take advantage of location and ease of entry via different
ports, to manufacture goods in sufficient quantity by value additions of
imports and export the finished products to Indian markets. With Sri Lanka
better in the bribery net and with less transport bottlenecks, CAN produce a range
of goods for Indian Consumers at competitive rates. This requires a scale not previously
envisaged.
I think the best
strategy would be for Dr Singh to go only to Jaffna, thereby both smoothening the
tensions of the South, but also to be able to report positive changes there. The
opening of a railway line may be the catalyst needed, and so when the train station
to Jaffna is ready, it may be the right time to come to open it.
Sri Lanka on the
other hand MUST skillfully manage both Chinese and Indian efforts at dominating
the economy and try and get them to grant credit at favorable interest rates, instead
of the exorbitant ones at present, pitting one against the other.
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